I played Warhammer 40,000 a lot as a teenager in the early 2000s. While I absolutely adored the 3rd edition rules system of the day, it was the 40k-universe set gang warfare campaign game Necromunda that I truly loved more. Games Workshop largely abandoned support for it after just a few years, but then mounted a hugely successful relaunch in 2017 under the design leadership of James Hewitt.
While the new version was widely embraced, the consensus has long been that it went a bit too far into complexity and minutia, a problem drastically exacerbated by the more than 20 expansion books released since. I tried to play it when I returned to the miniatures hobby a couple of years ago and it just completely broke my brain.
When I saw the news earlier this year that Hewitt was designing a gang-warfare campaign game based on Fallout 4’s final DLC Nuka-World for Modiphius I was really intrigued. Given the property, surely it would HAVE to be more accessible than nu-Necromunda, right?
I’ve had the Fallout: Factions – Nuka-World starter set for a little while now and am both thrilled and relieved that it delivers just about the exact bloat-free ‘munda experience I’d been hoping for.
Battle for Nuka-World
For this review Modiphius were kind enough to send me the ‘Battle for Nuka-World’ starter set. It’s an impressive package containing two gangs, a pile of nice cardboard terrain, a paper gaming mat, bespoke dice, tokens, gang roster sheets, the rulebook, and even a Fallout-branded tape measure.
This was my first experience with Modiphius’s multi-part miniatures and on the whole I’m quite impressed with them. They’re in the same ‘heroic 28mm’ scale as your average Warhammer figure, and their sprues are loaded up with customization options. They’re cross-compatible with the Fallout: Wasteland Warfare miniatures skirmish game too, (and also with the excellent Fallout: The Roleplaying Game for that matter), though that can lead to some confusion as different build options are incompatible with each game.
They’re full of character and hit a good mid-point on the scale of ‘visually striking vs. annoying to paint’ level of sculpted detail. They are also made from a slightly more fragile plastic than Games Workshop miniatures however, and with rifles and arms being as fine as they are, I do worry a little about how they’ll hold up with regular use. It’s worth noting too that unlike most Warhammer starter sets, these aren’t push-fit and will require plastic glue.
I commend the rulebook writers for doing a great job of welcoming complete newcomers to the world of miniature wargaming, but I sorely wish they’d made their communication of the actual mechanics of play as inviting and understandable. It just isn’t structured well and has no flow to it. It wasn’t until I went online and grabbed the free, official quickstart rules that I really ‘got’ how the core of a Factions turn functions, and it’s frankly ridiculous that a physical copy of this booklet isn’t included in the box.
Gangland grudges and gory glory
When starting out, each player chooses a gang from either the brutal Disciples, the disciplined Operators, or the crazed Pack, the latter two of which feature in the starter set. They then each construct a roster of up to 250 points in value, abiding by certain specified restrictions such as not being able to have more than one leader, not taking too many of the same weapon types, etc.
List building is kept quite breezy as each ganger only has three or four different weapon combinations to choose from, at least at the start. Each ganger is technically ‘free’ to recruit but each has to come armed with something, which is where the cost lies. Players are strongly encouraged to name their gang as well as each individual member to give them a real personal sense of identity too.
While a one-shot game of Fallout: Factions is an entirely fun and valid way to kill a couple of hours, it’s in the ongoing campaign mode that it really shines and where its true focus is placed. Injuries taken, loot recovered and lost, experience gained, gangers killed and newbies recruited are all accounted for in between battles as each faction works toward their unique overarching goals.
Perks can be gained, weapons modified, caps earned and spent, locations scouted… There’s a lot of meat for players to chew on, but never too much. As players repeatedly face one another they leave tangible, lasting impact upon each other’s gangs, which naturally leads to a unique kind of rivalry storytelling that I find utterly magical.
Pretty quickly you’ll find that you’re not just challenging a friend to another game in the series – you’re hoping that your leader, Ol’ Shishkebab Stephens, can enact brutal vengeance upon the rocket launcher-wielding member of the enemy gang for maiming two of her Wasters during the last time they faced each other. It’s a kind of gameplay that quickly becomes extremely engrossing, as every decision and dice roll carries significant weight and purpose. I adore it.
A wasteland winner
Fallout Factions – Nuka-World feels tailor-made for Fallout fans interested in dipping their toes into miniatures gaming to do so – if they’re willing to go grab the quickstart PDF from the publisher’s website. Its balance of hectic combat and character progression does a tremendous job of translating the vibe of Bethesda’s entries in the storied franchise.
While it doesn’t have the depth of my beloved 1995 Necromunda ruleset, it also has a much more intelligently focused design that ensures campaigns don’t allow players to power-creep their gangs completely off the rails. It’s a real shame that an extremely last-minute delay meant that it didn’t get to launch right alongside the Amazon TV show, but at least now it can make a dream Christmas gift for the Fallout or miniatures game fan in your life.
Four stars: ★★★★
Fallout: Factions – Nuka-World
Designer: James Hewitt
Publisher: Modiphius
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